-'/"•••' 


W*f     3m- 

H)*-/^ifT; 


BRI  LLI  ANTS 


FROM 


FRANCES   E.  WILLARD. 


FRANCES 


WILLARD 


Born.    1839        Died,    1898 


RILLIANTS 

Selected  from 
the    Writings    of 

FR  A  N  CES 

E.       Ng       N£ 

WILLARD 

By     ALICE     L.     WILLIAMS 


H.     M.     CALDWELL     CO. 

New      York      (Si      Boston 


Copyright,  1893 
BY  SAMUEL  E.  CASSINO 


BRILLIANTS 

FROM 

FRANCES    E.   WILLARD. 


WE  have  no  more  need  to  be  afraid  of  the 
step  just  ahead  of  us  than  \ve  have  to  be 
afraid  of  the  one  just  behind  us. 

*  *     * 

God  accounts  nothing  slight  that  brings  a 
tear  to  any  eye.  a  stinging  flash  to  any  cheek, 
or  a  chill  to  the  heart  of  any  creature  He  has 
thought  fit  to  make  and  to  endow  with  body, 

brain,  and  soul. 

*  *     * 

If  it   be   true  that  we  have  need  to  say, 
"  God    help    us    when   we   think   ourselves 
ii 


1624546 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

strong,"  I  believe  that  the  opposite  is 
equally  true  ;  nay,  that  \ve  need  Him  most 
when  most  distrusting  our  own  capabilities. 

*     *     * 

The  new  movement  for  the  study  of  the 
Bible,  as  the  finest  of  English  classics,  intro- 
ducing it  into  colleges  and  seminaries  of 
the  highest  grade,  is  full  of  possibilities  for 
Christian  progress  and  development.  The 
marvel  is  that  Christian  scholars  should  ever 
have  permitted  the  heathen  classics  to  out- 
rank the  psalms  of  David,  the  visions  of 
Isaiah,  and  the  wonderful  philosophy  of  the 
four  Gospels.  But  something  else  needs  to 
be  done  on  the  same  line,  and  must  become 
universal  before  we  can  fairly  call  ourselves 
other  than  a  practically  pagan  republic. 
This  is  the  teaching  of  those  principles  of 
ethics  that  are  found  in  the  Scriptures  and 
questioned  by  no  sane  mind,  whether  Jew  or 
Gentile,  Catholic  or  Protestant.  No  general 
movement  toward  making  our  great  public 
school  system  an  ethical  system  has  yet  been 
inaugurated,  except  by  the  Woman's  Chris- 
12 


FRANCES  E.    IVILLAKD. 

tian  Temperance  Union ;  and  this  kingdom 
of  heaven  has  come  to  the  children  of  the 
land,  as  its  wont  is,  "not  by  observation," 
but  so  quietly  that  our  people  hardly  know 
the  good  thing  that  has  happened  to  them. 

The  effort  of  good  women  everywhere 
should  be  to  secure  the  introduction  of  a 
text-book  of  right  living  —  one  that  should 
teach  the  reasons  for  the  social  code  of  good 
manners,  every  particular  of  which  is  based 
on  the  Golden  Rule,  and  those  refinements 
of  behavior  which  involve  the  utmost  kind- 
ness to  the  animal  creation,  including  the 
organization  of  Hands  of  Mercy  in  all  our 
public  schools. 

All  this  is  sure  to  come,  and  that  right 
speedily,  as  a  consequence  of  the  awakened 
interest  of  women  everywhere  in  the  subject 
of  education,  and  their  increasing  power 
along  these  lines.  The  time  will  come 
when  it  will  be  told  as  a  relic  of  our  primitive 
barbarism  that  children  were  taught  the  list 
of  prepositions  and  the  names  of  the  rivers  of 
Thibet,  but  were  not  taught  the  wonderful 
13 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

laws  on  which  their  own  bodily  happiness  is 
based,  and  the  humanities  by  which  they 
could  live  in  peace  and  good-will  with  those 
about  them. 

The  time  will  come  when,  whatever  we  do 
not  teach,  we  shall  teach  ethics  as  the  founda- 
tion of  every  form  of  culture,  and  the  "  faith 
that  makes  faithful -1  in  every  relation  of  life 
will  become  a  thing  of  knowledge  to  the 
child  of  the  then  truly  Christian  republic. 
For  we  can  never  teach  these  things  and 
leave  out  Christ  as  the  central  figure,  and 
His  philosophy  as  the  central  fact  of  our 
system  of  education.  At  the  same  time  our 
teaching  must  be  as  far  removed  from  any- 
thing sectarian  or  involving  the  statement  of 
a  creed,  as  the  North  Star  is  from  the 
Southern  Cross.  There  will  be  no  trouble 
in  those  days  about  opening  school  with 
such  extracts  from  the  Bible  as  have  been 
agreed  upon  by  men  and  women  of  all  faiths, 
and  the  repetition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  with 
its  universal  benignities  will  be  a  matter  of 
course.  It  is  for  the  Woman's  Christian 


Temperance    Union    to  work    on    quietly   to 
this  end,  without  haste,  without  rest. 

*  *     * 

Woman,  like  man.  should  be  freely  per- 
mitted to  do  whatever  she  can  do  well. 

*  *     * 

What  the  world  most  needs  is  mothering, 
and  most  of  all  in  the  spirit's  natural  home, 
the  church,  and  on  the  Sabbath  day.  It 
needs  the  tender  sweetness  of  the  alto  voice, 
the  jubilant  good-will  of  the  soprano,  in  ser- 
mon as  in  psalm ;  tenor  and  bass  become 
monotonous  at  last,  and  the  full  diapason  of 
power  and  inspiration  is  impossible  except 
we  listen  to  the  full  chorus  of  humanity.  God 
hasten  that  great  chorus,  in  church  and  state 
alike,  with  its  deep-hearted  love  and  its 

celestial  hope  ! 

*  *     * 

It  is  not  uncharitable  to  judge  an  act  as 

good  or  bad,  but  we  should  be  very  slow  to 

judge  the  actor  bad.     Only  by  rising  to  the 

sublime  sense  of  our  sacred  sisterhood  with 

'5 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

every  woman  tliat  breathes,  be  she  good  or 
bad,  foreign  or  native,  bond  or  free,  shall  we 
find  our  individual  pettiness  covered  and 
flooded  out  of  sight  by  the  most  inexorable 
force  of  all  the  universe,  the  force  of  Love. 

If  I  could  have  my  wish  for  all  of  us,  it 
would  be  that  in  our  measure  we  might  merit 
what  was  said  of  that  seraphic  woman, 
Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning.  It  is  an  ideal 
that  we  shall  all  delight  to  share  :  — 

"  Persons  were  never  her  theme,  unless 
public  characters  were  under  discussion,  or 
friends  were  to  be  praised,  which  kind  office 
she  frequently  took  upon  herself.  One  never 
dreamed  of  frivolities  in  her  presence,  and 
gossip  felt  itself  out  of  place.  Books  and 
humanity,  great  deeds,  and,  above  all, 
politics,  which  include  all  the  grand  questions 
of  the  day,  were  foremost  in  her  thoughts, 
and,  therefore,  oftenest  on  her  lips.  I  speak 
not  of  religion,  for  with  her  everything  was 
religion.  Her  Christianity  was  not  confined 
to  the  church  and  rubric ;  it  meant  civiliza- 
tion." 

16 


FKAXCES  E.    WILLARD. 


Envy  and  jealousy  light  the  intensest  fires  * 
that  ever  burn  in  human  hearts;  gossip  and 
scandal  are  the  smoke  emitted  by  them.  If, 
as  has  been  said,  these  passions  could,  like 
some  modern  chimneys,  be  consumers  of 
their  own  smoke,  a  purer  and  a  better  atmos- 
phere would  then  prevail. 

In  all  the  battle  of  opinion  that  rages,  and 
must  rage  until  a  better  equilibrium  is  reached 
in  this  great  nation,  be  it  ours,  beloved 
sisters,  to  remember  that  "  When  either  side 
grows  warm  in  argument,  the  wiser  man 
gives  over  first." 

Good-breeding  has  been  called  "  the 
apotheosis  of  self-restraint."  But  the  higher 
evolution  is  not  to  need  restraining,  but  to 
have  that  inward  quietness  which,  when  God 
giveth  it,  "  who  then  can  make  trouble?" 
All  strife  in  manner,  word,  and  deed,  grows 
out  of  worldliness ;  and  to  this  there  is  but 
just  one  antidote,  and  that  is  Other  Worldli- 
ness. 

One  look  into  the  silent  heavens,  and  all 
our    earthy    jargons    seem   unworthy ;    one 
17 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

deep  tone  of  the  forest's  mystical  /Eolian, 
and  our  deeper  hearts  respond  in  tenderness  ; 
one  solemn  strain  out  of  the  sea's  unutterable 
anthem,  and  the  soul  hears  in  it  that 
"something  greater"  that  speaks  to  the 
heart  alone. 

All  true  souls  know  that  this  is  true. 
"  Let  my  soul  calm  itself,  O  God,  in  Thee" 
sings  the  stoimy  spirit  of  St.  Augustine. 
'•  Live  without  father  and  mother,  but  not 
without  God,"'  cries  Count  Tolstoi  from 
Russia,  that  centre  of  the  world's  unrest. 

"  We  should  fill  the  hours  with  the  sweetest 
things, 

If  we  had  but  a  day. 
We  should  drink  alone  at  the  purest  springs, 

In  our  upward  way. 

We  should   love  with  a  lifetime's  love  in  an 
hour, 

If  the  hours  were  but  few," 

are  the  sweet  lines  of  our  own  Mary  Lowe 
Dickinson. 

And   these  are  the  words  of  a  great  but 
18 


FKAXCI'.S   /-:.     WJLLARD. 

unnamed  saint:  "  The  strongest  Christians 
are  those  who,  from  daily  habit,  hasten  with 
everything  to  God."1 


Our  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  is  a  school,  not  founded  in  that 
thought,  or  for  that  purpose,  but  sure  to 
fit  us  for  the  sacred  duties  of  patriots  in 
the  realm  that  lies  just  beyond  the  horizon 
of  the  coming  century. 

Here  we  try  our  wings,  that  yonder  our 
flight  may  be  strong  and  steady.  Here  we 
prove  our  capacity  for  great  deeds  ;  there  we 
shall  perform  them.  Here  we  make  our 
experience  and  pass  our  novitiate,  that  yonder 
we  may  calmly  take  our  places  and  prove  to 
the  world  that  what  it  needed  most  was 
"  two  heads  in  counsel,"  as  well  as  "  two 
beside  the  hearth."  When  that  day  comes, 
the  nation  shall  no  longer  miss,  as  now,  the 
influence  of  half  its  wisdom,  more  than  half 
its  purity,  and  nearly  all  its  gentleness,  in 
courts  of  justice  and  halls  of  legislation. 
19 


HKILLIAXTS  FROM 

Then  shall  one  code  of  morals  —  and  that 
the  highest  —  govern  both  men  and  women  ; 

O  *^ 

then  shall  the  Sabbath  be  respected,  the 
rights  of  the  poor  be  recognized,  the  liquor 
traffic  banished,  and  the  home  protected 
from  all  its  foes. 

Born  of  such  a  visitation  of  God's  Spirit  as 
the  world  has  not  known  since  tongues  of 
fire  sat  upon  the  wondering  group  at  Pente- 
cost, cradled  in  a  faith  high  as  the  hope  of  a 
saint,  and  deep  as  the  depths  of  a  drunkard's 
despair,  and  baptized  in  the  beauty  of 
holiness,  the  Crusade  determined  the  ulti- 
mate goal  of  its  teachable  child,  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  which  has  one 
steadfast  aim,  and  that  none  other  than  the 
regnancy  of  Christ,  not  in  form,  but  in  fact; 
not  in  substance,  but  in  essence  ;  not  eccle- 
siastically, but  truly  in  the  hearts  of  men. 
To  this  end  its  methods  are  varied,  changing, 
manifold :  but  its  unwavering  faith  these 
words  express:  "Not  by  might,  nor  by 
power,  but  by  my  spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts." 

20 


s 


A  little  boy  came  to  his  father  and  laid  his 
hand  upon  his  knee,  looking  up  wistfully. 
"  Do  you  want  a  penny,  child?"  The  sweet 
face  glowed,  and  the  answer  came,  "  No, 
papa:  only  you."  So  it  is  with  the  child  of 
(iod:  he  does  not  want  the  good  things  of 
the  world  one-millionth  part  so  much  as  he 
wants  to  know  his  Father's  love.  This  is  a 
true  test  for  each  of  us,  and  by  it  we  may 
know  whether  we  are  really  in  the  faith. 

*  *     * 

Let  me  give  you  the  sweet  words  my 
mother  used  to  speak  as  the  talismanic  charm 
to  still  my  turbulent  spirit  in  girlhood  days  : 
"Hath  any  wronged  thee?  Be  bravely  re-' 
venged.  Slight  it,  and  the  work's  begun. 
Forgive  it,  and  'tis  finished." 

*  *     * 

Let  me  give  you  also  De  Tocqueville's 
words  for  a  motto :  "  Life  is  neither  a  pleas- 
ure nor  a  pain.  It  is  serious  business,  to  be 
entered  on  with  courage  and  in  a  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice." 

21 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

Crossing  the  ocean  once  our  captain  said, 
"  There  is  an  iceberg  somewhere  near.  I 
know  it  by  the  mercury's  falling  and  many 
other  indications."  We  had  no  inkling  of  it ; 
but  he  tacked  the  ship  always  with  the  ice- 
berg in  mind,  though  not  in  view.  At  last 
the  sun  came  out,  the  fog  dispersed,  and  we 
saw  the  spectral  invader  from  the  Arctic  seas 
gleaming,  savage,  portentous.  The  captain 
told  us  what  its  fate  would  be.  It  would 
soon  enter  the  Gulf  Stream,  and,  faring  on, 
would  be  invisibly  honeycombed  through  and 
through,  though  still  making  a  formidable 
appearance  above  the  water-line.  But  it 
would  grow  gradually  less,  and  at  last  in  a 
whirling  motion  would  disappear  in  a  vortex 
of  its  creation.  Since  then  it  has  come  to 
me  many  times  that  from  the  Arctic  seas  of 
unwritten  ages,  when  victorious  warriors  made 
themselves  drunk,  using  the  skulls  of  the 
vanquished  as  their  goblets,  the  liquor  traffic 
has  been  moving  down  upon  us,  not  less  cold, 
stern,  and  deathlike  than  the  iceberg  that  I 
saw.  But  out  of  sight  beneath  the  water- 


FA'A<VCF.S   E.    IVfLLARD 

line,  it  is  honeycombed  already,  for  there  is 
a  Gulf  Stream  in  history  that  carries  summer 
to  every  shore  it  visits.  It  sets  from  the 
warm  heart  of  Christ ;  it  flows  from  the 
Bible's  open  page  ;  and  by  its  mild  and  steady 
power  this  whitened  monster  of  a  savage  age 
has  become  disintegrated  far  more  deeply 
than  we  think.  It  is  even  now  tottering  to 
its  fall,  and  shall  ere  many  generations  dis- 
appear under  the  steady  resistless  stream  of 
love  toward  God  and  love  to  man  caused  by 
the  gospel's  rising  wave  on  every  island  on 
every  coast. 


Our  strongest  foundation  in  the  temperance 
reform  is  the  training  of  the  people  to  know 
the  sacredness  of  that  "  thus  saith  science'' 
which  is  but  an  echo  of  the  Bible's  "  thus 
saith  the  Lord.''  Be  it  our  happy  task  always 
with  voice  and  pen  to  applaud  every  scientific 
discovery,  to  appreciate  every  scientific  mind, 
to  welcome  as  friends  all  those  who  are  in- 
vestigating nature,  for  each  and  every  one  of 
them,  whether  he  knows  it  or  not,  is  a  servant 
23 


•  BRILLIANTS  FROM 

of  the  Most  High,  and  a  pioneer  who  has 
struck  out  into  the  forest  of  ignorance  and 
superstition  to  blaze  the  trees  that  the  great 
army  of  mankind  may  march  along  the 
broader  and  the  safer  path.  The  two  guard- 
ian angels  of  humanity  are  Science  and  Faith. 

"  They  dwell  apart,  that  radiant  pair, 

In  different  garbs  appear, 
And  while  the  voice  of  man  they  share, 
Have  separate  altars  here 

A  golden  lamp  the  one  displays, 

A  light  still  clear  and  keen  ; 
The  other  walks  'neath  starry  rays, 

With  sometimes  clouds  between. 

The  voice  of  one  enjoins  the  wise 
To  pause  and  wait  and  prove ; 

The  other  lifts  expectant  eyes, 
And  only  murmurs  —  Love. 

Both  teachers  of  celestial  birth, 

To  each  be  credence  given  ; 
To  Science  that  interprets  earth, 

To  Faith  the  seer  of  heaven." 
24 


FRANCES   E.    IVfLLAKD. 

Herbert  Spencer,  who  is  to  our  century 
what  Francis  Bacon  was  to  the  sixteenth, 
repudiates  over  and  over  again  the  charge  of 
materialism.  He  has  recently  said:  "It  is 
impossible  to  give  more  emphatic  denial  or 
to  assign  more  conclusive  proof  than  I  have 
repeatedly  done  in  rebutting  this  charge.  My 
antagonists  must  continue  to  vilify  me  as 
they  please.  I  cannot  prevent  it.  Practi- 
cally they  say  it  is  convenient  to  call  you  a 
materialist,  and  you  shall  be  a  materialist 
whether  you  like  it  or  not." 

Perhaps  these  are  the  strongest  utterances 
of  1891  against  the  flood  tide  of  that  crude 
opinion  that  would  rule  out  of  the  universe 
the  power  behind  all  other  powers  whom  we 
call  God.  It  should  cause  us  to  be  thankful 
and  take  courage  that  one  whose  intellect  has 
come  nearer  than  almost  any  other  to  encir- 
cling the  mighty  realm  of  thought  thus  far 
attained  by  man,  deems  himself  wounded 
and  slandered  by  the  intimation  that  he  has 
not  seen  and  felt  the  power  of  that  endless 
life  from  which  all  our  lives  have  sprung. 
25 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

Questions  about  our  attitude  toward  differ- 
ent creeds  are  often  asked  me,  and  I  have  no 
answer  better  than  the  one  that  you  perhaps 
have  noticed  this  year  floating  in  the  great 
(iulf  Stream  of  the  daily  press  :  "  Our  creed 
is  Jesus  Christ.  Any  belief  in  Him  —  the 
smallest  —  being  assumed  better  than  any 
belief  about  Him  —  the  greatest  —  or,  for  that 
matter,  about  anything  else."  There  are  many 
denominations,  but  the  different  branches 
bear  the  self-same  fruit ;  they  all  draw  life 
from  the  same  hidden  root,  which  we  seeking 

it  know  as  life. 

*     *     * 

These  are  days  in  which  "the  stars  in 
their  courses  fight  against  Sisera."  The 
progress  of  science  revealing  the  rationale 
of  the  irrepressible  conflict  between  man  and 
alcohol ;  the  progress  of  invention,  putting 
the  public  more  and  more  at  the  mercy  of 
men  who  handle  ocean  greyhounds  and  can- 
non-ball express  trains,  telegraph  keys,  and 
telephone  transmitters,  self-loading  pistols 
and  self-unloading  dynamite  ;  the  progress  of 
'26 


FRANCES  E.    WILLARD. 

philanthropy, unsealing  new  fountains  of  good- 
will in  human  hearts  —  all  these  forces  of  God 
work  for  us  while  we  sleep,  with  a  power 
vastly  more  pervasive  than  any  that  we  set 
going  when  we  wake.  The  slow,  steady  lift 
of  evolution,  bearing  every  atom  nearer  to 
the  stars,  carries  on  the  crest  of  its  measure- 
less waves  our  sacred  cause  of  a  clear  brain. 
The  widening  wonder  of  Christ's  gospel, 
which  to  my  mind  includes  all  that  is  worthy 
of  mention  in  this  world,  whether  wrought 
out  by  hand  or  head  or  heart,  is  in  itself  the 
central  sun  of  temperance  reform,  of  which 
our  work  is  but  a  bright  adventurous  ray. 

*     *     * 

The  Knights  of  Labor  have  a  glorious 
motto:  "That  is  the  most  perfect  govern- 
ment in  which  an  injury  to  one  is  the  concern 
of  all."  That  idea  must  be  worked  out  into 
custom  and  law,  and  we  will  help  to  do  it ;  but 
that  idea  has  sobriety  and  prohibition  at  its 


There    are    two    doors  now   open  that    I 
27 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

would,  had  I  the  power,  lock  before  sunset : 
first,  the  mouth  of  the  moderate  drinker, 
by  enlarging  his  scientific  knowledge  and 
mellowing  his  heart  in  wiser  love  to  God 
and  man  ;  and  next,  the  door  that  shuts  every 
brewery,  distillery,  and  grog-shop.  The  key 
that  would  do  this  is  prohibition  by  law,  pro- 
hibition by  politics,  and  prohibition  by 
woman's  ballot — may  we  soon  grasp  it  in 
our  firm  and  steady  hands  !  We  can  do 
this ;  we  propose  to  do  it ;  we  will  do  it. 
Well  has  it  been  said  by  that  heroic  leader, 
Ellice  Hopkins,  of  England,  "I  cannot"  is 
a  lie  on  lips  that  say,  I  "  believe  in  the  Holy 
Ghost."  The  king  is  the  man  that  can,  and 
they  are  kings  in  character  who,  as  the  com- 
bat deepens,  still  cry,  "On,  ye  brave." 

*  *     * 

Understand    this  first,    last,    and    always : 
The  world  wants  the  best  thing.     It  wants 

your  best. 

*  *     * 

Men  explore  continents  because  they  are 
physically  strong,  but  by  as  much  as  a  sun- 
28  ' 


FRANCES  E.    WILLARD. 

beam  is  more  potent  than  a  bar  of  iron  or  a 
wedge  of  gold,  is  it  greater  to  explore  the 
continent  that  lies  environed  by  every  brain 
and  breast,  the  wonderful  land  that  we  call 
human  nature,  with  its  wild  plains  of  passion, 
and  its  well-tilled  valleys  of  peace ;  its 
jungles  of  cruelty  and  its  gardens  of  sweet- 
ness ;  its  rough  ore  of  purpose  and  its 
finished  gems  of  culture  ;  its  gurgling  brooks 
of  youth  and  its  calm  rivers  of  maturity;  its 
hills  of  talent  and  mountain  peaks  of  char- 
acter, touched  with  the  snow  of  unsullied 
purity  and  glorious  with  eternal  sunshine 
from  God's  presence,  while,  "  poured  'round 
all,"  is  "old  ocean's  melancholy  waste"  of 
impenetrable  mystery. 

Who  would  mould  iron,  or  carve  granite, 
using  the  coarse  and  evanescent  materials 
of  the  outer  world,  when,  within  this  magic 
world  of  the  undying  soul,  she  might  work 
with  her  own  sweet  will,  felling  the  forests  of 
prejudice,  draining  the  marshes  of  ignorance, 
mining  the  glittering  gems  of  thought,  and 
quarrying  the  pure  gold  of  affection?  For 
29 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

my  part,  I  believe  the  steady  head  of  the 
world,  when  clarified  from  alcohol  and  nico- 
tine, will  perceive  that  its  supreme  achieve- 
ments are  in  the  continent  of  philanthropy, 
in  the  fertile  valleys  of  human  nature,  not  in 
the  coarse  mud-embankments  and  roaring 
sluiceways  of  our  present  material  civilization. 
Then  let  us  glorify  the  vocation  of  mother- 
hood above  all  other,  for  the  only  Queen  that 
shall  survive  is  the  mother  on  her  rocking- 
chair  throne,  with  a  curly-headed  subject 
kneeling  by  her  side,  a  soft  hand  on  its  pure 
forehead,  and  its  sweet  voice  saying,  "  Now  I 
lay  me  down  to  sleep."  But  that  mother 
must  be  regnant  over  all  earthly  powers,  even 
the  divine  one  that  dares  invoke  another 
life  ;  she  must  be  God?s  and  her  own,  a  free 
woman  to  whom  shall  never  come  the  annun- 
ciation of  her  highest  office  and  ministry  save 
from  the  deepest  intuitions  of  her  nature 
responding  to  the  voice  of  a  love  so  pure  that 
it  is  patient  and  bides  its  time  until  the  hand- 
maid of  the  Lord  shall  say:  "Be  it  unto 
me  even  asthou  wilt." 
3° 


/•'A'.-LYCKS   /•:.    WILLAKD. 

I  do  not  see  any  way  out  for  this  country, 
which  f.innot  very  well  go  back  on  its 
position  as  to  manhood  suffrage  except  to 
improve  the  quality  of  th^  voting  by  admitting 
its  intelligent  women,  and  barring  out  the 
ignorant  women,  thus  putting  a  premium 
upon  knowledge  and  character  as  conditions 
of  the  voter.  It  is  my  opinion  that  if  matters 
go  on  as  they  have  done  for  the  next  ten  or 
twenty  years,  the  best  manhood  of  the  land 
will  come  to  the  women  imploring  them  to 
accept  the  franchise  and  deliver  the  country. 
Last  year  half  a  million  foreigners  of  the 
baser  sort  immigrated  hither.  We  cannot 
indefinitely  stand  such  a  strain  as  that,  and 
in  no  way  can  we  bring  the  American  element 
into  our  governmental  life  except  by  intro- 
ducing the  women.  Such  a  test  as  I  intimate 
would  bar  out  the  ignorant  colored  woman 
and  foreigners,  and  place  the  balance  of 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  abler  classes 
mentally  and  morally  among  the  men  and 
women  of  the  republic. 

This  would  be  done  in  no  spirit  of  un- 
31 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

friendliness  toward  the  classes  debarred,  but 
only  to  give  them  the  highest  possible 
motive  for  improving  their  minds  —  namely, 
the  promise  of  participation  in  the  govern- 
ment —  and  in  order  that  when  thus  improved 
we  may  have  a  decent  government  for  their 
participation  and  development. 


I  am  proud  to  belong  to  the  Universal 
Peace  Union  and  the  Massachusetts  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  and 
to  echo  every  word  uttered  by  Frances  Power 
Cobbe,  of  England,  and  George  T.  Angell 
of  America,  those  brave  defenders  of  the 
gentle  faith  that  "  Nothing  is  inexorable  but 
love,"  and  that  we  are  — 

"  Never  to  blend  our  pleasure  or  our  pride 
With  sorrow  of  the  meanest  thing  that  feels.'' 

My  shepherd  collie,  "  Prohibition "'  ("  Hib- 
bie,"  for  short,  and  "  Hib,"  for  shorter),  is  a 
perpetual  gospel  to  me,  as  he  reaches  out  his 
shaggy  paw  with  a  \\ise  look  in  his  eyes  that 
32 


FRANCES  E.    WHJ.ARH. 

seem  to  say,  "  Have  patience  with  me,  and  it 
shall  grow  to  be  a  hand.'1 
*     *     * 

Life  has  but  one  problem  to  solve :  how 
self  may  be  driven  from  the  throne  and  love 
placed  there  in  its  stead.  Practically  worked 
out,  this  problem  is  to  substitute  for  the  old 
motto,  "  Each  for  himself,  and  the  Devil  take 
the  hindmost,"  this  truer  one,  "  Each  for  the 
other,  that  there  may  be  no  hindmost  for  the 
Devil  to  take." 

How  shall  life  in  its  purpose  and  environ- 
ment most  completely  lend  itself  to  love? 
All  sincere  reformers  are  to-day  occupied  with 
this  supreme  inquiry. 

For  myself,  I  have  become  convinced  that 
while  the  indwelling  of  God's  spirit  by  its 
transforming  power  can  alone  meet  and  mel- 
low our  hearts  so  that  the  selfishness  will 
thaw  out,  and  the  glow  of  love  replace  its 
Arctic  cold,  the  best  practical  application  of 
a  loving  heart  will  come  through  Christian 
socialism  ;  co-operation  driving  out  competi- 
tion, community  of  goods  replacing  the  wage 
33 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

system,  and  "  all  ye  are  brethren  ''  becoming 
the  watchword  of  a  holier,  happier  time. 
When  I  recite  the  Creed  these  days,  it  means 
vastly  more  to  me  in  every  way  than  it  did 
ten  years  ago  ;  but  no  shining  sentence  in  it 
has  gained  a  brighter  glow  than  the  words, 
"  I  believe  in  the  communion  of  saints."  I 
now  think  that  this  refers  to  the  purer  days 
of  Christ's  early  church,  when,  as  the  New 
Testament  so  simply  and  beautifully  says, 
"They  had  all  things  in  common.''  There 
were  then  no  rich,  no  poor,  but  all  dwelt 
together  in  unity  of  the  spirit  and  the  bond 
of  peace.  I  believe  this  condition  of  things 
is  as  sure  to  return  as  Christ  is  true,  and  I 
urge  my  sisters  to  pray  and  study  much  this 
living  question,  warm  with  the  love  of  God 

and  of  humanity. 

*     *     * 

It  is  not  learning,  nor  eloquence,  nor  gen- 
erosity, nor  insight,  nor  the  tidal  rush  of 
impassioned  feeling  which  will  most  effectually 
turn  the  dark  places  in  men's  hearts  to  light, 
but  that  enkindling  and  transforming  temper 
34 


FRANCES   E.   IVILLARD. 

which  forever  sees  in  humanity  not  that  which 
is  bad  and  hateful,  but  that  which  is  lovable 
and  improvable,  which  can  both  discern  and 
effectually  spjak  to  that  nobler  longing  of 
the  soul  which  is  the  indestructible  image 
of  its  maker.  It  is  this  —  this  enduring  belief 
in  the  redeemable  qualities  of  the  vilest 
manhood  —  which  is  the  most  potent  spell 
in  the  ministry  of  Christ. 


The  highest  genius  predicts  the  most  uni- 
versal sympathy.  A  shut-up  soul  and  a 
shut-up  oyster  are  nearer  the  same  level  than 
the  soul  believes.  One  can  be  exclusive  on 
small  intellectual  capital,  but  only  broad,  far- 
sighted  minds  can  be  inclusive. 

What  we  call  lack  of  charity  is  usually  lack 
of  perception.  If  we  knew  more,  we  should 
love  better.  The  divine  mind  knows  all  and 
loves  all.  From  human  nature's  ever  vocal 
Gerizim  sounds  the  beatitude,  "  Blessed  are 
the  inclusive,  for  they  shall  be  included,"  and 
from  the  Mount  Ebal  of  its  malediction  sounds 
35 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

the  doom,    "  Cursed  are  the  exclusive,  for 
they  shall  be  excluded." 

*     *     * 

The  will  is  the  kingbolt  of  the  faculties, 
the  keystone  in  the  arch  of  character,  the 
engine  that  trains  after  it  the  remainder  of 
what  we  suppose  ourselves  to  be. 


"  Act  as  if  God  were,  and  you  shall  know 
He  is."  We  must  begin  by  doing,  that  is 
the  changeless  law.  Do  His  will,  and  you 
shall  know  of  the  doctrine.  A  river  is  not 
judged  by  its  shoals,  but  by  its  current ;  and 
in  like  manner  a  life  is  not  judged  by  its 
eddies  of  temptation,  but  by  its  tendency,  its 
direction,  its  goal.  If  our  life  is  headed 
toward  God  and  immortality,  people  will 
know  it,  we  shall  know  it,  God  will  know  it ; 
and  we  must  not  be  discouraged  by  any 
instance  on  our  part  of  failure  :  if  we  fall,  we 
must  just  get  up  and  try  again.  We  are 
not  here  to  float  the  float  of  faith,  but  to 
fight  the  fight  of  faith. 
36 


FRANCES  E.    IVILLAKD. 

The  will  is  the  final  factor  of  our  life.  We 
cannot  make  the  weak  excuse  that  we  are 
unable  to  believe  it  is  our  business  to  be- 
lieve the  best  things  we  have  ever  heard  and 
known,  —  the  tilings  from  which  the  best 
character  has  been  evolved.  Scientists, 
inventors,  explorers,  all  go  forward  by  a 
working  hypothesis  ;  they  lay  down  a  certain 
plan  of  supposition,  and  fill  that  in  by  action. 
The  architect  goes  by  his  working-plan  in 
building ;  and  the  Christian  goes  by  his  in 
building  that  noblest  of  all  edifices,  char- 
acter. 

To  my  mind  the  whole  primer  of  Christian 
living  may  be  condensed  into  these  words : 
"  Act  as  if  God  were,  and  you  shall  know  He 
is."  If  force  is  the  nearest  approach  we 
make  to  God  in  the  material  universe,  may 
not  force  of  will  approach  Him  closest  in  the 
spiritual  realm?  The  difference  between  a 
man  and  a  mollusk  is  that  one  has  resolute 
aim,  and  the  other,  for  all  we  know,  has 
aimless  revery. 

The  German  poet,  Hoffman,  pitifully  said 
37 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

with  his  last  breath.  "  We  must  then  think 
of  God  also."  Happy  is  he  who  early 
determines  not  to  put  God  among  the  "  al- 
sos,"  but  to  make  Him  the  keystone  of  the 

arch. 

*     *     * 

Why  is  there  so  little  political  enthusiasm? 
Because  a  great  people  can  be  stirred  only  by 
a  great  cause.  Tennyson  said  that  every 
horse  on  the  highway  nowadays  pounded  out 
by  its  very  trot  the  word,  li  IYop-er-ty,  prop- 
er-ty,  prop-er-ty.11  In  our  own  land  commer- 
cialism has  held  its  dollars  so  close  to  the 
average  voter's  eyes  that  he  seems  absolutely 
hypnotized.  Xo  wonder  the  campaign  inter- 
ests chiefly  those  who  have  or  want  office. 
Meanwhile  the  liquor  power  stands  at  the 
middle  of  the  seesaw,  and  adds  the  balance 
of  its  campaign  subscription  wherever  in 
either  of  the  two  parties  its  local  interests 
lead  it  to  deem  investments  most  advan- 
tageous to  its  ascendency.  .  .  .  Let  us  do  our 
best  to  brighten  the  turbid  stream  of  politics, 
to  plant  along  its  banks  sweet  flowers  and 
33 


FRANCES  E.     WILLARH. 

trees  whose  leaves  shall  be  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations.  Women  are  slowly  and  surely 
coming  to  their  own.  Their  own  is  to  work 
side  by  side  with  men  everywhere,  for  the 
place  in  which  a  pure  woman  may  not  work, 
no  man  should  ever  enter.  In  the  illimitable 
future  I  see  a  long  avenue,  stately  and  fair, 
in  which  through  every  line  of  life  the  two 
shall  go  together,  blessing  and  blessed. 

*     *     * 

Whenever  human  society  finds  out  that  all 
of  its  affairs  are  really  affairs  of  the  family, 
it  will  learn  that  they  should  be  managed  not 
by  one  sex,  but  by  two.  The  segregation  of 
the  sexes  is  an  offence  against  nature's  first 
law.  The  great  work  of  the  coming  century 
is  the  career  open  to  all  that  are  capable,  even 
if  they  are  women.  We  make  no  limitations 
other  than  those  imposed  by  nature,  which 
are  much  too  inexorable  to  need  re-enforcing 
by  man-made  legislation.  We  do  not  ask 
that  women  should  do  what  they  cannot  do. 
If  they  cannot,  that  ends  the  controversy. 
But  there  must  be  no  a  priori  masculine  de- 
39 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

cision  as  to  what  women  can  or  can  not  do. 
They  must  be  allowed  to  put  their  capacity 
to  the  test,  nor  must  the  gate  of  the  testing- 
house  in  state  or  in  church  be  barred  against 
the  entry  of  any  candidate  for  trial,  even  if 
she  be  a  woman.  What  we  want  is  the  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  there  should  be  no 
more  discrimination  against  a  sex  than  there 
is  against  a  sect.  ...  It  is  not  good  for  man 
to  be  alone  in  church  and  in  state  any  more 
than  in  the  family.  Man  deteriorates  when 
deprived  of  the  constant  alliance  and  co-oper- 
ation of  woman. 

*  *     * 

It  is  not  enough  that  women  should  be 
home-makers,  but  they  must  make  the  world 
itself  a  larger  home. 

*  *     * 

I  object  to  the  fatuity  that  sets  the  woman 
who  would  "  mother'1  a  state,  a  nation,  or  a 
race  over  against  the  one  who  mothers  her 
own  offspring,  as  if  the  former  lacked  the 
motherly  nature  and  character.  Any  one 
broad-minded  enough  to  inquire  into  the  ex- 
40 


FRANCES   P..     WfLLAKD. 

perience  of  history,  and  cosmopolitan  enough 
to  generalize  therefrom,  knows  that  there  is 
no  real  antagonism  between  women  nobly 
famous  and  women  heroically  obscure. 


The  two  hands  are  a  picture  of  the  con- 
tending forces  of  capital  and  labor.  The 
left,  less  skilled,  more  choice,  seryed  often 
by  its  fellows,  and  decked  with  rings  ;  the 
right,  forceful,  ingenious,  busy,  unadorned. 
Only  by  bringing  them  together  can  harmony 
be  had  and  a  full  day's  toil  accomplished. 
If  they  contend,  they  work  each  other's  ruin; 
if  they  combine,  they  reach  each  one  its  ut- 
most. Met  for  work  and  clasped  in  prayer, 
these  hands  of  capital  and  labor  shall  bring 
that  social  compact  which  it  is  their  office  to 
develop  and  defend  up  to  its  best  estate. 
Fighting  each  other,  they  will  but  mar  and 
finally  destroy  the  social  fabric  —  and  the 
left  hand  of  capital  will  first  give  way  under 
the  pitiless  blows  of  labor's  strong  right 
hand. 

4* 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

The  word  co-education  constantly  takes  a 
wider  meaning.  As  related  to  the  education 
of  young  women,  it  is  a  fact  accomplished, 
but  the  co-education  of  mind  and  hand  is 
now  a  living  issue  among  leaders.  The  words 
of  the  wise  thinkers  are  becoming  the  works 
of  the  practical  doers.  Carlyle  said  long 
ago  that  "the  idle  man  is  a  monster." 
Rousseau  declared  that  "  rich  or  poor,  strong 
or  weak,  every  idle  citizen  is  a  knave."  It 
will  hardly  be  another  generation  until  all 
education  will  be  based  upon  the  training  of 
the  hand,  and  not  to  know  some  useful  trade 
or  art  will  be  to  confess  one's  self  below  the 
pauper  line  in  intellect.  There  are  few  ob- 
jects more  pitiful  than  the  graduate  from  col- 
lege who  can  turn  his  hand  to  no  useful 
pursuit.  The  cunning  of  the  human  hand 
has  wrought  all  the  marvels  of  material  civ- 
ilization ;  by  it  man  is  more  widely  separated 
from  the  brutes  than  by  any  other  member. 
In  a  high  sense  these  words  of  a  great  phi- 
losopher must  appeal  to  all.  In  order  "to 
know  the  truth  it  is  necessary  to  do  the 
42 


FRANCES  E.    WILLARD. 

truth.'1  Balance  of  character,  which  is  its 
highest  culmination,  cannot  be  adequately 
reached  until  mind,  heart,  and  hand,  that 
splendid  trinity,  become  co-ordinate,  and 
move  as  smoothly  as  the  \\heels  of  the  great 

Corliss  engine. 

*      *     * 

Some  regard  it  as  a  misfortune  that  this  has 
been  a  year  unparalleled  in  our  country  in  re- 
spect to  strikes,  lockouts,  riots,  indeed,  of 
every  symptom  that  can  confirm  the  truth  of 
a  mighty  and  growing  unrest  in  the  will  and 
purpose  of  the  masses.  To  me  these  symp- 
toms are  most  hopeful.  If  disease  is  in 
the  body  politic,  by  all  means  let  it  come  to 
the  surface.  The  poorest  physician  among  us 
knows  that  no  outward  application  can  cure 
the  difficulty  ;  only  a  blood  medicine  will  reach 
it,  for  the  difficulty  is  organic  and  deep-seated 
as  nature  itself.  The  failure  of  severe  meas- 
ures is  the  precursor  of  more  gentle  and 
reasonable  treatment  of  the  disease.  .  .  . 
It  is  a  most  hopeful  fact  that  the  president  of 
one  of  our  largest  consolidated  railway  qom- 
43 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

binations  declares  that  only  by  profit-sharing 
can  strikes  be  prevented  :  the  employee  must 
feel  that  he  owns  part  of  the  road,  that  he 
may  own  all  that  he  will  by  steadfast  industry. 

*     *     * 

There  are  two  sides  to  the  question,  "  What 
constitutes  this  brotherhood  of  man  of  which 
we  speak  so  much  ? "  The  progress  of  science 
develops  every  year  moie  clearly  the  signifi- 
cant fact  that  all  men  are  brothers  whether 
they  will  or  not,  if  not  for  weal,  then  for 
woe.  .  .  .  God  has  said  it,  not  by  any 
arbitrary  decree,  for  this  He  never  does,  so 
far  as  our  studies  of  nature  indicate,  but  in 
the  constitution  and  course  of  things  He  has 
said,  "  All  ye  are  brethren."  Only  by  making 
this  the  major  premise  of  our  lives  can  we 
attain  true  happiness :  the  sooner  we  find  it 
out,  the  better  for  us ;  the  sooner  we  learn 
that  it  is  true,  the  sooner  we  clasp  hands  in 
concerted  purpose  and  endeavor  to  enact 
brotherhood  upon  earth,  the  more  shall  we 
be  made  in  the  image  of  man,  rather  than 
show  forth  the  lineaments  of  serpents  and  of 
44 


FRAXCKS    K.    IV I L LARD. 

beasts  ;  for  the  hiss  of  the  snake  and  the  teeth 
of  the  hyena  are  not  more  savage,  relentless, 
and  cruel  than  those  laws  and  customs  by 
which  the  greater  number  are  steadily  ground 
under  the  heel  of  the  lesser,  and  a  human 
being  becomes  the  cheapest  thmg  on  earth, 
the  least  desired,  and  the  worst  cared  for. 


In  the  old  pastures  by  the  river  I  was  wont 
to  watch  the  beautiful  green  grub  filling  it- 
self with  food  from  the  hazel  twig,  to  which 
it  was  attached,  and  cradling  itself  for  the 
mysterious  change  by  which  it  should  become 
ethereal  instead  of  cumbersome.  It  used  to 
come  to  me  then  in  the  dim  thought  of  child- 
hood, that  when  the  grub  shelled  out  the 
fascinating  little  airship  of  the  skies,  another 
grub  crawling  along  the  bough  of  my  pretty 
hazel  bushes  would  not  even  know  what  had 
occurred,  but  so  far  as  its  dull  intelligence 
could  take  in  anything,  would  be  sure  to  re- 
gard its  disrupted  comrade  as  having  met 
with  some  great  calamity,  for  the  grub's  eyes 
45 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 


are  too  heavy  to  see  the  bright,  ethereal 
butterfly;  perhaps,  indeed,  the  change  was 
looked  upon  as  a  disaster  when  its  first  birth- 
pangs  and  its  last  came  on  the  dead  larva. 

We  have  a  right  to  think  that  so  it  may  be 
—  nay,  it  must  be  —  as  between  the  soul  and 
body.  It  is  far  more  conformable  to  reason 
that  a  viewless  and  beautiful  being  should 
rise  from  the  ruins  of  the  human  form  than 
from  the  ruins  of  the  grub.  Suppose  a 
man  should  build  a  ship  and  freight  it  with 
the  rarest  works  of  art,  and  in  the  very 
building  and  the  freighting  should  plan  to 
convey  the  ship  out  into  mid-ocean  and 
there  scuttle  it  with  all  its  contents.  Here 
is  the  human  body,  in  itself  an  admirable 
piece  of  mechanism,  the  most  delicate  and 
wonderful  of  which  we  know ;  it  is  like  a 
splendid  ship,  but  its  cargo  incomparably  out- 
runs the  value  of  itself,  for  it  is  made  up  of 
love,  hope,  veneration,  imagination  "and  all 
the  largest  of  man's  unconquerable  mind." 
Why  should  its  maker  scuttle  such  a  ship 
with  such  a  freightage?  He  who  believes 
46 


FRANCES  E.    WTLLARD. 


that  this  is  done  is  capable  of  a  credulity  that 
far  outruns  the  compass  of  our  faith. 

*     *     * 

We  are  explorers  sailing  on  the  seas  un- 
known ;  the  new  world  is  what  we  seek  ;  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  among  men.  The  white- 
ribbon  ship  has  all  sails  set ;  its  prow  points 
toward  the  untracked  sea.  We  seek  a  land 
fit  for  the  planting  of  our  Saviour's  cross. 
Columbus,  harassed  by  his  men,  was  the  pro- 
totype of  all  adventurous  souls  hindered  by 
the  scruples  of  the  timid  and  prejudices  of 
the  conservative.  Well  has  the  poet  of  the 
Sierras  put  the  contrast,  and  in  parting  let 
me  give  my  final  message  in  his  words :  — 

Behind  him  lay  the  gray  Azores, 
Behind,  the  gates  of  Hercules; 
Before  him  not  the  ghost  of  shores, 
Before  him  only  shoreless  seas. 
The  good  mate  said:  "  Now  must  we  pray, 
For  lo  !  the  very  stars  are  gone  ; 
Brave  Admiral,  speak  :  what  shall  I  say?" 
"  Why,  say,  4  Sail  on,  sail  on,  and  on.'" 
47 


BRILLIANTS  FROM 

"  My  men  grow  mutinous  day  by  day  ; 
My  men  grow  ghastly,  wan,  and  weak." 
The  stout  mate  thought  of  home  ;  a  spray 
Of  salt  wave  washed  his  swarthy  cheek. 
"  What  shall  I  speak,  brave  Admiral,  say, 
If  we  sight  naught  but  seas  at  dawn  ?  " 
"  Why,  you  shall  say  at  break  of  day, 
'  Sail  on,  sail  on,  sail  on,  and  on.'"' 

They  sailed  and  sailed,  as  winds  might  blow, 
Until  at  last  the  scared  mate  said : 
"  Why,  now  not  even  God  would  know 
Should  I  and  all  my  men  fall  dead ; 
These  very  winds  forget  their  way, 
For  God  from  these  dread  seas  is  gone. 
Now  speak,  brave  Admiral ;  speak  and  say." 
He  said  :  "  Sail  on,  sail  on,  and  on.  " 


They  sailed   and   sailed.      Then  spake  the 

mate : 

"  This  mad  sea  shows  its  teeth  to-night. 
He  curls  his  lip,  he  lies  in  wait, 
With  lifted  face,  as  if  to  bite  ; 
48 


FKANCES  K.    WILLARD. 

Brave  Admiral,  say  but  one  good  word  — 
What  shall  we  do  when  hope  is  gone?" 
The  words  leaped  as  a  leaping  sword : 
"Sail  on,  sail  on,  sail  on,  and  on." 

Then,  pale  and  worn,  he  kept  his  deck, 
And    peered    through    darkness.      Ah,   that 

night 

Of  all  dark  nights  !     And  then  a  speck  — 
A  light,  a  light,  a  light,  a  light! 
It  grew  :  a  starlit  flag  unfurled  ! 
It  grew  to  be  Time's  burst  of  dawn  ; 
He  gained  a  world !  he  gave  that  world 
Its  greatest  watchword,  "  On  !  and  on!" 
49 


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